Withdrawal or Leave of Absence

If you withdraw from Albion College, you may be eligible for a refund of a portion of the tuition, fees, housing and meals paid to Albion College for that semester. If you received financial aid, then a portion of the refund will be returned to the grant, scholarship, or loan source from which that aid was received.

Withdrawing or taking a leave of absence may affect the timeline on repayment of your college loans. However, most loans have a grace period that can be applied to a leave of absence.

Refunds

Students who are considering withdrawing from the College should consult the policy in the online Academic Catalog and with the Vice President for Student Affairs.

Students who do withdraw from the College are subject to the Albion refund policy and the federal Return to Title IV Aid. Specific information regarding both policies is available below.

Refund Policies

The federal withdrawal policy is applied to all federal financial aid (Pell, TEACH and SEOG grants, work-study, Direct and PLUS loans). Federal law requires federal aid recipients to "earn" most of the aid they receive by staying enrolled in college at least half-time.

Students who withdraw prior to completing 60 percent of the semester for which they received federal student aid may be required to return some of the aid they were awarded.

The Return of Title IV financial aid is based upon the amount of federal financial aid received, the College charges incurred, AND the date of withdrawal. College charges include tuition, fees, and on-campus housing charges.

Students who withdraw prior to completing 60 percent of the semester will "earn" financial aid paid to them (or used to pay their fees) each day of the quarter they are enrolled.

Students who withdraw after completing 60 percent of the semester will have earned all financial aid received.

The amount of financial aid “earned” will be calculated as follows: the percentage of aid to be returned is equal to the number of calendar days remaining in the semester divided by the number of calendar days in the semester. The College will return to the federal government any funds that were credited from the Albion refund first. If the amount returned by the College is not enough to repay the entire "unearned" amount, the student will be required to return portions of amounts that they received to pay for non-institutional charges – books, supplies, off-campus living expenses.

Amounts that are returned to the federal government, either from the Albion refund or by the student, will first be applied to the student's federal loans. If the student owes any federal loan funds after the College has paid back its share, he or she will be permitted to repay the loans based on the original terms of the loans – usually a ten-year repayment term after a grace period and deferment period if the student returns to school. In addition, the student may be required to return portions of grants such as Federal Pell, TEACH, and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) that they have received. In the case of "unearned" portions of federally funded grants, the student will be expected to pay 50 percent of the "unearned" portion immediately or to make satisfactory arrangements to repay that amount.